Sherman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says, right here in Gregg County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a long way — all the way to the years just after emancipation, when something powerful was taking root in East Texas. Following emancipation, African American congregations were founding themselves across this part of the state in the 1870s.

Freedmen wanted their own places to worship, in their own communities, on their own terms. And in 1870, out in the Judson community, Sherman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church was organized — with support from Reverend Daniel Sherman, the man whose name the congregation would carry forward. Now here's something worth holding in your mind: in those early years, Sherman Chapel didn't have a building to call its own.

The congregation shared a church building with the Pleasant Hill Colored Methodist Episcopal Church — later known as the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — until each could construct a sanctuary of their own. Two congregations, one roof, making it work. The first location stood on Freedmen's Ridge, near Omega, up in the northeastern corner of Gregg County.

Freedmen's Ridge — a community formed after the Civil War for emancipated slaves. That ground meant something. Decades passed, the congregation endured, and then came the early 1940s, when Sherman Chapel briefly relocated to a site one-quarter mile north of here, to a place folks called simply 'in the pines.' It sounds peaceful enough.

But in 1945 to 1946, a fire destroyed the building. Just like that, the congregation was without a home again. Now — lesser communities might have scattered.

This one searched. In 1947, land was purchased on State Highway 26 — a road that would later be renamed Highway 259 — and construction of a new sanctuary began. They built it.

And on March 9, 1952, they commemorated its completion, beginning what would become their annual church anniversary celebration. That date became a marker in itself, a line drawn between all that struggle and something they could celebrate every single year. Then, as if the story needed one more turn, the 1980s brought highway widening right to their doorstep, and the congregation rebuilt the sanctuary on that same lot rather than move again.

Same ground. New walls. More than a century of nurturing, educating, and fostering spiritual growth in this community — through emancipation's aftermath, through fire, through roads that shift and times that change.

The marker calls Sherman Chapel a spiritual beacon for the families of this area, and after everything this congregation has carried, that word — beacon — feels exactly right.

What the marker says

Following emancipation, many African American congregations were founded in East Texas in the 1870s. As freedmen, they wanted their own places to worship in their own communities. Established in the Judson community in 1870, Sherman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church was organized with support from Reverend Daniel Sherman. In the early years, the church building was shared with the Pleasant Hill Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (later named Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) until each congregation could construct a sanctuary. The first location was on Freedmen’s Ridge near Omega in northeastern Gregg County, a community formed after the Civil War for emancipated slaves. In the early 1940s, Sherman Chapel Congregation briefly relocated to a site one-quarter mile north of here to a place known as “in the pines.” After a fire destroyed the building in 1945-46, the church congregation began to search for a new home. In 1947, land was purchased on State Highway 26 which was later renamed Highway 259, and construction of a sanctuary began. The church commemorated the building’s completion on March 9, 1952, when they began their annual church anniversary celebration. In the 1980s, the sanctuary was rebuilt on the same lot due to the widening of the highway. For more than a century, Sherman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Members have nurtured, educated and fostered spiritual growth in the community with leadership and support. Throughout the decades and sometimes jarring changes, the congregation has remained a spiritual beacon for the families of the area.